Monday, June 21, 2010

The Caddie

I spent much of last night watching the final round of the US Open. With the tournament being held on the west coast I was able to watch golf until bedtime! Life is good! There was plenty of drama with Tiger and Phil in the hunt and me being from South Carolina I was hopeful that Dustin Johnson, a South Carolina boy, would pull out the win. It was a great match with a somewhat unknown Graeme McDowell taking home the trophy.

During one of the days, NBC did a short segment on the relationship between Tom Watson and his former caddie Bruce Edwards. Bruce caddied for Tom for 30 years. They had a very special relationship based on the segment I watched. I guess I had this in the back of my mind as I watched the tournament. I took note of the relationships and conversations between the players and their caddies. I saw the famous pairs, Tiger and Steve, Phil and Bones, Jim and Fluff. I noticed the conversations between them. They would talk about each shot. They would talk about club selection, wind direction, where to put the ball for the next shot, and on and on. The caddies would do their best to keep the player cool, calm and collected throughout the tournament. There is however, one thing the caddie never did. He never took a shot, that was left up to the player. He never stepped in and said "Hold on, let me hit this next shot for you. It appears as though you are not listening to my advice so just step aside and let me play the game for you." The caddie is always right by the golfers side, through good times and bad. He is there to listen to the player as he thinks through the shot, he is there to offer his advice but he never takes over the game. As I thought about that I thought about our caddie in life, the Holy Spirit. I am not trying to diminish the role of the Holy Spirit but in my mind I see him as a spiritual caddie. He is right there with us. He is aways around to listen to our thoughts. He is aways available to show us the way. But he never steps in and plays the game of life for us. It is up to us to play the game of life. However, God did not leave us here to play it alone.

John 14:26, "These things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

John 16: 5-8, 5"Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' 6Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt...

Rom. 8:26, "And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words"

God has given us his Holy Spirit to help us as we make our way around the course of life. He is there for us to talk to when we do not know what to do, he is there to convict us of sin in our life, he is there to intercede for us. What an amazing gift the Father has given us. So many times it seems as though I forget this. I feel like I am alone in some of the struggles and trials I face. I find myself thinking I am going it alone when in reality I have a spiritual caddie right by my side 24 hours a day. I am so thankful for this reminder from a game I love so much.